Trial Lawyers, Inc. Targeting the Environment
August 26, 2010
Manhattan Institute’s indespensible series, “Trial Lawyers, Inc,” has done a tremendous job of exposing the business model and structure of the trial bar and quantifying the damage lawsuit abuse does to our nation.
A new installment has just been released in the series, this one on the environment. The report examines how trial lawyers are going green ($$$) by ginning up mass class action environmental lawsuits. According to the report, the trial bar is charging contingency fees that eat up a third of class proceeds and doing an end-run around legislator and regulators by using the courts to enact their policy aims.
Manhattan Institute’s Jim Copeland is the author of this latest report. Jim was published in yesterday’s Investor’s Business Daily with an op-ed on climate change lawsuits, based in part on the arguments laid out in this latest report.
Another Powerball Payday for Class Action Lawyers
June 29, 2010
That sound of champagne corks popping that you’re hearing may be coming from the party over at the Pomerantz Haudek law firm. WSJ’s Law Blog reports that the firm has just reeled in a $56 million fee in a securities fraud class action suit.
While trial lawyer fees in the tens of millions are par for the course in our nation’s jackpot justice system, that’s a 25% cut of the $225 million settlement. Fees typically are around 15% in major awards. In signing off on the fee, NY Federal Court Judge Nicolas Garaufis wrote,
“While it may be that a lower percentage would also be sufficient, this court will not pretend that it has the expertise necessary to divine the ideal percentage.”
In other words, “How much? Beats me! Party on, dudes!”
Trial Lawyers Use Front Group to Troll for Clients
June 29, 2010
Good article in Forbes reporting on a front group that a class action firm uses to wine and dine potential big clients - including public pension fund managers. (Hat tip: Walter Olson).
$8.22 coupon for you…$21 million for me
June 25, 2010
Daniel Fisher over at On the Docket reports on yet another Powerball payday for class action trial attorneys. This time, the lawyers make off with $21 million in fees. The plaintiffs? $8.22 coupons.
Sigh.
$$$ for Trial Lawyers, “Owners Manual Update” for Class Members
May 27, 2010
From Overlawyered.com: My lawyer got $35.1 million…and all I got was this lousy piece of paper.
The Class Action Industry
May 21, 2010
Walter Olson, now with the Cato Institute, links to a study by Vanderbilt University Law Professor Brian Fitzpatrick on Overlawyered.com.
Professor Fitzpatrick examined every federal class action settlement in 2006 and 2007 and found - surprise, surprise - that trial lawyers are making a killing. The 688 class actions settled during this time period resulted in nearly $33 billion in payments, including about $5 billion to attorneys.
You can find the study here.
Starbucks Suit: What Happened to Personal Responsibility?
May 21, 2010
Court Koenning of the Houston Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse has a common-sense piece in the Southeast Texas Record worth a quick read. He writes: “We need to realize that every dilemma or personal disappointment is not fodder for a lawsuit and does not warrant a treasure trove of cash.”
Walter Olson Headed to Cato Institute
May 4, 2010
Walter Olson – the intellectual godfather of the legal reform movement – is shifting institutes – from Manhattan to Cato. Manhattan’s Jim Copeland does a nice job at PointofLaw.com of summarizing Walter’s myriad contributions to legal reform, including the founding of the indispensible Overlawyered.com. Congratulations to Walter and to Cato for reeling in perhaps the biggest fish in the legal reform pond. Of course, the Manhattan Institute will be very ably served by Ted Frank, who will now edit PointofLaw.com in addition to his ongoing scholarly work on issues critical to legal reform.
Update on Schwarzenegger and Tort Reform
February 5, 2010
As I reported earlier, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has pledged to push for tort reform in this, his final year in the governor’s office.
Veteran California political columnist Dan Walters gives a brief history of the tort wars in the Golden State and reports on the reform package’s chances for success - not great. In Walters words,
Don’t hold your breath. The Legislature’s Democratic majority is symbiotically welded to the trial bar.
NYT Article Cites AJP Report
January 28, 2010
Yesterday’s New York Times business section featured on article on global warming litigation. The reporter cites a 2008 report published by the American Justice Partnership - the organization I head up - and the Southeastern Legal Foundation entitled, The Most Dangerous Litigation in America.
It appears that business is finally waking up to the threat these suits possess. Here’s an excerpt from the article:
“…In the context of climate change, such cases were once derided as frivolous long shots that would be shot down quickly. Scott H. Segal, a lawyer for energy companies, joked in a 2004 article in Grist magazine that the cases brought “new meaning to the term ‘nuisance lawsuit.’
“No one is laughing now. In a report issued last year, Swiss Re, an insurance giant, compared the suits to those that led dozens of companies in asbestos industries to file for bankruptcy, and predicted that ‘climate change-related liability will develop more quickly than asbestos-related claims.’”